I applied for my press visa about three weeks before my planned departure to Yemen. I met with an assistant media affairs officer in the Yemen Embassy in Washington to discuss the purpose of my trip and go over any necessary details in order to get approval. She looked through my letter of intent and my materials and said that everything looked to be in order and that ideally I would receive my visa in about two weeks.
She warned that the Ministry of Information in Sana’a was being slammed with requests, so it could take longer, but inshallah, I would have the visa before my scheduled flight.
About 10 days after I submitted my request, I received an email from someone in the Ministry of Information. This is copied verbatim from the email:
I would like to inform you that I sent the approval for your request concerning your visiting to Yemen last saturday. I am preparing also the permission for the entrance of your equipment at the Airport and another permission for your travelling in Yemen, I will be your guide and accompany you during your staying in yemen,to offer all help and facilities to you to carry out your task properly, and I will recieve you at the Airport bringing with me the permission of the equipment.
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Sean Carberry Aden, Committee to Protect Journalists, press freedom, Sanaa, Yemen
As I was sitting here in my hotel room in Sanaa, jousting with the Internet in an effort to upload an audio slideshow about illegal gold mining in Peru (to accompany our new program on reducing carbon emissions), and preparing to write a blog post about my observations during my first 24 hours in town, I heard the distinct sound of a ruckus outside. I peered out my window, and saw a small mass of people marching down the street singing songs and carrying signs (ok, they weren’t so much singing songs as chanting, but couldn’t resist the Buffalo Springfield reference).
Journalists are drawn to demonstrations/marches like moths to a flame, so I grabbed my camera and recorder and ran outside. The crowd had stopped in the middle of the street outside my hotel and people began delivering speeches over the battery-operated PA system they were carrying. Many of the signs had the picture of the same man. One of the pictures showed him severely injured and in a medical facility. One sign had the words “Women Journalists Without Chains” written in English at the bottom.
I was unsure what this was all about, but one thing was clear – it was peaceful. There were a number of police/military men wandering around and none looked threatened or concerned. In fact, on of them helped me up onto a small wall so I could take better pictures, so there didn’t seem to be any concern about violence or security.
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Sean Carberry press freedom, Sanaa, Women Journalists Without Chains, Yemen
I applied for my press visa about three weeks before my planned departure to Yemen. I met with an assistant media affairs officer in the Yemen Embassy in Washington to discuss the purpose of my trip and go over any necessary details in order to get approval. She looked through my letter of intent and my materials and said that everything looked to be in order and that ideally I would receive my visa in about two weeks.